Fortis Bank sells two buildings for EUR 94m

Belgian property group Befimmo said it has acquired two buildings in Belgium from Fortis Bank for an overall purchase price of EUR 94mln.

The first building is located in Antwerp and comprises two technically independent wings over a total 21,253 m². The Meir wing is a classic-style building let entirely to Fortis Bank for a term of 27 years while the Wapper wing is a contemporary building used as offices and a bank branch, whichis also let entirely to Fortis Bank for a term of 18 years. The other building is situated at Vital Decosterstraat 42-44 in Leuven and is three-quarters let to Fortis Bank on leases of 12 and 15 years. The rest of the second building is let to other tenants.

For Belgian-Dutch financial services group Fortis, the transaction came as it raised EUR 1.5bn through the issue of new shares and announced a number of other measures to shore up its finances. Fortis said these would also include a total of EUR 1.5bn in sale-and-leaseback transactions of real estate like the deal that was announced with Befimmo.

On its part, Befimmo said the transaction fit in with its strategy as a pure player investor. It said the assets it acquired would guarantee long, regular, secured and indexed cash flows. As a result of the acquisition, Befimmo said that the total value of its consolidated portfolio now stands at EUR 1.8bn, with 857,000 m² of office space.

Befimmo noted it is in the middle of a refinancing operation with its banks for at least EUR 200mln over the next five years, as it seeks to be prepared for investment opportunities in quality office buildings in Belgian city centres and in Paris. Befimmo has also begun taking the steps to be quoted on Euronext Paris in coming months.